I had a short window of time this morning before a work commitment, so I took off early and found my way to a new pheasant spot that I just got permission on last year. I spent the 20 minutes preceding legal shooting light pushing birds out of cover too close to the houses, and checking my GPS to be sure of the lay of the land. Legal shooting time found me standing safely past the 182 meter mark (legal shooting distance in Nova Scotia for a shotgun is 182 meters = 200 yards), dropping a pair of shells into my OU and trying to quiet the excited dog (who does not understand legal annoyances like sunrise and distance from houses!). Just as we prepared to take our first step, some motion caught the corner of my eye. Three rooster-heads bobbing in the the clover, 100 yards or so downwind (and, thankfully, farther away from the houses!). Because they were downwind, Ruby had no idea as we walked that way. I have wanted to get a true double on roosters for a long time, and I figured that I had a chance. As I walked quietly down the edge of the clover field I saw their nervous heads slinking down towards the end of the field - busted... Ruby is a fast dog when she gets on a running rooster, so I decided to stop her and steady her BEFORE getting to the scent, and to go on a bit alone before releasing her, so as to be closer to the flushes. I steadied her and walked away quietly but quickly, trying to close the gap on the birds a bit. When I was 40 yards from the end of the field I looked back to see if Ruby was still steady and she was. I allowed myself a brief moment of smug satisfaction at my well trained dog when suddenly the infernal bitch let out a pleading yelp/howl for me to release her! Up go two roosters from the far side of the ditch at the end of the field. Too far for a sensible shot. DAMMIT! Did I mention that she is an infernal bitch? She BLOWS past me towards the flush and works their scent like mad. I see her hang a hard right along the ditch at the end of the field so I know which way the third rooster went. I put my whistle between my teeth, both hands on the gun, and strategically cut the corner of the field to intercept her path, so I'm 20 yards away when Ruby put up a nice rooster. I like to shoot them when they are nice and high in the air, so I fired my first shot under the bird, you know, just to nudge him up a bit, and then dropped him with my second barrel..... Oh well, so much for my double. We worked our way down the cover, putting up some absolutely beautiful, heart-stopping hen flushes. With a rooster in my pocket, and Ruby working the hens like nobody's business, I was happy with the day already - pretty much ready to head back to the car to get to to my meeting on-time. But, she topped it off for me by get getting onto another running rooster, pushing him up and down the side of a hill until his scent went up over the top of it. She followed, and I scrambled to the top just in time to hear him come up out of a pile of brush and cross out ahead of me at 30 yards. Planted my feet, swung up to the big white ring on his neck, pulled out front and dropped him. My colleagues must have wondered why I sat through the entire meeting with the biggest cheese-eating grin on my face! They must have thought - Boy - THAT guy REALLY loves his job!
I'll get one more crack at them Saturday, then I'm outta town for two weeks. As a result, I'll miss opening day in the Annapolis Valley (best area in the province by far) by a day or two, but I'll be able to take a few days off mid-week when I get back, so I'm we'll find a few.
-Croc
I'll get one more crack at them Saturday, then I'm outta town for two weeks. As a result, I'll miss opening day in the Annapolis Valley (best area in the province by far) by a day or two, but I'll be able to take a few days off mid-week when I get back, so I'm we'll find a few.
-Croc
